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It’s our “BLOGiversary”!!! We’re celebrating two years of blogs! If you missed any, here are our Top Ten most visited blogs. Click on the titles below to read or re-read our most popular pieces! Remedy for Governance Failure: Part 1 – Rose Mercier (Aug 7, 2018) What about Executive Committees – Rose Mercier (July 11, […]

For those who haven’t yet read Part 1 of this blog, here is a short recap: the blog was motivated by a newspaper article about a board of a social housing organization that was removed by the body that gave it the authority to govern. I pondered on the types of governance failure that would […]

Perhaps because I live in a smaller city, lots of circumstances that might otherwise be a footnote in a larger metropolitan area attract the local newspaper’s attention. Consequently, I have a rich source of revelations about the impact of poor governance. Last week’s secondary front page story revealed that the municipality had removed both the […]

Should a board have committees? It depends. How many committees should a board have? It depends. It depends on whether the committees will interfere with the accountability of the CEO. It depends on whether those committees will help the board or hinder the “holism” of the board. Here are a few quick tips if you […]

Last weekend I was enjoying the beautiful summer weather taking a walk along a local nature trail. There were many other people doing the same thing. What amazed me was the number of them that were walking along, heads down, totally absorbed in their devices! Instead of enjoying the beauty around them, they were somewhere else. […]

I received a call from the president of an organization that I coach which was in the middle of revising its bylaws. It had been suggested to the president that it was hard for a board to function without an executive committee. She called because she was curious about this suggestion. When the organization’s board […]

You may have landed on this blog because you are one of the quiet –or not so quiet –advocates for Policy Governance®to be introduced to your board. Perhaps your board would like to implement the model, but doesn’t know where to start. It’s possible it has all the pieces in place, but now wonders where […]

Board members and CEOs who work with Policy Governance® should be familiar with the concept of Ends policies. These are powerful statements of what difference the organization is to produce in the world, for whom, and for what worth. This concept is distinct from what the organization does to make that difference. Although the Board […]

Several years ago I was invited to join the board of a small not-for-profit organization. It had been sliding downhill as a going concern for a number of years and the board had just taken the drastic action of dismissing the CEO with no notice amidst allegations of fraud. The CEO responded with a wrongful dismissal […]

Over the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to be involved in some large group sessions where the facilitator was able to gather a significant amount of information from each of the people involved. The method used was called an Interview Matrix. As I thought about this method of information gathering, it occurred to me […]

Is your board continuously improving its capacity and ability to govern well? Your organization exists to make a real difference in the lives of those it serves. More to the point, a well-governed organization ensures 1) those benefits intended to be received by those intended to receive them are actually received, 2) the benefits received […]

Board work can be frustrating. People serve on boards to help and they hope their contributions will be meaningful. But when the board as a group is ineffective, the disappointment individual members feel is unambiguous. This is too common an occurrence and more poignant because we know that governance is no more a mystery than […]

If you have any familiarity with Policy Governance®, you will have heard the term any reasonable interpretation. It is the Policy Governance principle that in my experience is the one most often misunderstood. If you are not familiar with this principle, let me briefly explain it. A Policy Governance board will develop a variety of […]

I coach an organization that, like many other organizations, is wondering how changing population demographics will affect them. They have been proactively trying to understand how their association will be relevant in the future to the various generations – Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y (Millennials), and Generation Z. Their Governance Committee recently spent several […]

Often when I look at mission statements and strategic plans and other direction setting documents for organizations, I will find many effort words. Some boards are in the business of “seeking” a better community. Some want to “promote” their cause. Still others “endeavor” to make a difference. And then, there is my favourite, the Board […]

Have you ever played on a sports team, worked on a business team, or served on a board, where the people could not work together effectively to accomplish the goal? This can be a frustrating and challenging experience, and often it is because the people on the team are just not suited well or equipped […]

We’ve all been asked, “What’s the plan?” At home, at work, with friends and family everyone asks about the plan. Who is making the plan and who is in charge of the plan? Plans can be short or long depending upon their purpose. If I plan to make dinner tonight, I need a place to […]

Leading productivity expert David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, has coined a fascinating phrase: “Psychic RAM.” He argues that as individuals, when we try to keep our “to do” lists in our heads, we are tying up valuable RAM. Consequently, we have no creative thinking space available. His solution is to use a well-defined […]

Early in our relationship, my wife advised me that I wasn’t much fun when watching movies because I had a tendency to identify inconsistencies in the story line. If Marty travels back to the future after having made changes in the past that affect his family’s fortunes, why are they still living in the same […]

In the last few months I have found myself reading widely from the Harvard Business Review. It seems to have become more “accessible” – cleaner formats, more graphics, and simpler language. I had always liked the wide range of relevant and soundly researched topics. If this sounds like an ad for HBR, it is not. […]

I remember several road trips when my children were young. About every ten minutes, one of them would ask, “Are we there yet?” Children ask this question because they have not developed a sense of time or distance, or they don’t have a clear picture of what the final destination is – what “there” will […]

In the most recent edition of the Harvard Business Review, author Stanislav Shekshnia has written an article titled, “How to Be a Good Board Chair.”* He bases his findings on the results of interviews with many current and former chairs of large corporations. It’s worth the read. He makes 8 points about what makes for […]

In mid-September I read an article in my local newspaper that grabbed my attention. The headline: “Surprised by 700K deficit.” Wow, I thought – a high six figure deficit is pretty large surprise for a non-profit agency. Why, I thought, was the board surprised? The focus of the story was the draft financial statement for […]

Recently I was meeting with a board that was just beginning to implement Policy Governance®. The board appeared to have a good grasp of the model including the principle of Executive Limitations. The board understood the idea that it would delegate authority to the CEO to use any means to accomplish the Ends except those […]

If a board informally hears that staff is struggling to achieve a particular Ends policy, and the board doesn’t know why, how might it proceed? Assuming no violations of Executive Limitations, isn’t the implementation of Ends policies the sole prerogative of the CEO? Can the board seek information related to these struggles without meddling in […]

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Policy Governance® is an internationally registered service mark of John Carver. Registration is only to ensure accurate description of the model rather than for financial gain. The model is available free to all with no royalties or license fees for its use. The authoritative website for Policy Governance is www.carvergovernance.com